Number of Public Healthcare Workers Not Offered Re-employment

Ms K Thanaletchimi asked the Minister for Health (a) in the past three years, how many mature public healthcare workers were not offered re-employment but were paid Employment Assistance Payment (EAP) upon reaching age 62 and beyond, and why; (b) which job categories were these workers from; and (c) how is the Ministry working with cluster institutions to formulate better job redesign or staff deployment strategies to retain mature workers.

Over the past three years, a total of 21 public healthcare workers were not offered re-employment at age 62 and beyond. That is an average of about 1% of total public healthcare workers at age 62 and above per year. Of these, 16 were not eligible for re-employment, as they had under-performed in their jobs or were medically unfit for work. Of the remaining five who were eligible for re-employment, three workers were not re-employed as they had informed their institution that they wished to retire to spend time with their family, or for health reasons. The remaining two mature public healthcare workers were not offered re-employment but were paid the Employee Assistance Payment (EAP). Both were nurses. The payments were mutually agreed after considering their suitability for continued employment and exploring various re-employment options.

Our public healthcare institutions (PHIs) have taken a multi-pronged approach to support the retention of mature public healthcare workers, by redesigning work tasks and duties to work "light" and work "right".

Firstly, to work "light", institutions have redesigned jobs to introduce automation to lighten the burden of labour-intensive activities. This can support our mature workers in their work roles. For example, institutions now have assistive equipment, such as ceiling hoists and bed transporters, to aid in patient lifting and transport, as well as Automated Guided Vehicles to transport case notes and meals to wards, to reduce the physical strain of healthcare jobs. Some institutions also placed magnifying glasses on medication carts to aid mature workers. Institutions have also simplified work processes to benefit mature workers. For example, Changi General Hospital's (CGH's) mature housekeepers used to have difficulty remembering the application of different types of chemicals for routine cleaning. Hence, CGH now uses a one-step disinfectant, and has reduced the number of cleaning chemicals for ward cleaning from four types to two.

Next, to work "right", institutions harness the abilities of mature workers by assigning tasks that are best suited to them. For instance, mature workers in portering departments may be assigned to take on lighter duties, such as delivery of documents, whereas younger porters are tasked with patient transfers. To leverage their experience and expertise, some mature nurses are also redeployed to become training consultants or nursing auditors.

Besides redesigning jobs to make work light, and staff deployment to assign work right, the PHIs also support the re-employment of mature workers through pre-retirement preparatory programmes, reskilling and flexible work arrangements. MOH will continue to work with PHIs to engage mature workers and assist them in re-employment.